31 October 1987, Chetan Sharma Takes First World Cup Hat-trick

On this day in 1987, Chetan Sharma became the first bowler to take a hat-trick in World Cup when he took three in as many balls against New Zealand in Nagpur.

India needed a big win over the Kiwis in order to finish ahead of Australia and secure a home semi-final.

Jeff Crowe won the toss and opted to bat but the Kiwis never got going losing wickets at regular intervals and towards the end Chetan Sharma registered the first ever World Cup hat-trick, as he accounted for Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Ewen Chatfield with the last three balls of his sixth over.

All three were clean bowled and New Zealand finished with 221 for 9 on board.

India needed to chase the target in 42.2 overs, and thanks to some sensational batting from Kris Srikanth and Sunil Gavaskar, they reached the target in just 32.1 overs.

Srikanth smashed 75 from 58 balls as he was on his usual destructive self, but the surprise package was Sunil Gavaskar, as he smashed his only ODI ton off 85 balls.

Wisden Almanack described the chase as "batting of breathtaking brilliance."

India eventually went onto lose the semi-final to England, as Graham Gooch smashed a wonderful century, scoring 115 in the semi-final, and sweeping away the Indian spinners.

However, Chetan Sharma's achievement was soon forgotten as he conceded a last ball six to Javed Miandad in Sharjah, and since India lost the match to Pakistan, Sharma became the perennial villain of Indian cricket.

He ended up playing 23 Tests, taking 61 wickets at an average of 35.45. His ODI career was slightly longer as he played 65 matches and took 67 wickets at an average of 34.86.